BlueCross Bowl Thursday recap: Swinea's big day helps Davidson Academy repeat

COOKEVILLE – Davidson Academy scored the final 18 points of the Division II-A BlueCross Bowl championship game, ousting University School of Jackson 31-21 to successfully defend its title from a year ago.

Griffin Swinea ripped off a 64-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage, and he found the end zone three more times en route to being named the game’s Most Valuable Player. Swinea finished with a career-high 285 yards on 24 carries, scoring on runs of 3, 8 and 36 yards in the victory.

The Bears (11-2) held USJ to 28 rushing yards and held the Bruins (10-4) out of the end zone twice in three red zone trips.

Bryce Rawls was 7-of-9 passing for 107 yards and ran for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, in addition to six solo tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery for Davidson Academy.

CPA quarterback Cade Law rushed for a touchdown and threw another, but the Lions fell to ECS in the Division II-AA BlueCross Bowl championship game. (Photo by Chris Brooks | Midstate Preps Plus)

ECS 17, CPA 14: Christ Presbyterian Academy had chances to put the game out of reach in the second half, but six fumbles – three of them ending up in ECS defenders’ hands – and three failed fourth-down conversion attempts did the Lions (7-7) in.

A controversial completion led to the game-winning touchdown as it appeared ECS (13-1) had failed on fourth down in the red zone, but a pass that appeared to hit the ground was ruled complete and the Eagles scored one play later from the 1-yard line.

CPA outgained ECS 312-245, with 60 of the Lions’ 177 rushing yards coming on Cade Law’s touchdown run in the first quarter. CPA held ECS to 1-12 on third downs in the loss. Maverick Rodriguez had six receptions for a game-high 69 yards, while Josh Roper caught a 21-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.

MBA’s Jack McKennon (4) caught a touchdown pass in the Division II-AAA BlueCross Bowl championship game, but the Big Red fell 28-7 to McCallie. (Photo by Chris Brooks | Midstate Preps Plus)

McCallie 28, MBA 7: McCallie’s defense set a new BlueCross Bowl championship game record with nine sacks in the Division II-AAA title game.

MBA (8-5) finished with 240 yards of total offense, while McCallie (11-2) rushed for 273 in the victory. The Blue Tornado also returned an interception for a touchdown to open the scoring.

Marcel Reed hit Jack McKennon for an 81-yard touchdown in the second quarter to tie the game, but it served as the only Big Red points of the contest. McCallie had lost the last 14 consecutive meetings with MBA.